Opera, Jazz & Blues Hibla Gerzmava

• Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901):
• 1La traviata (arr. D. Kramer): La traviata, Act I: Ah forse e lui che l'anima (arr. D. Kramer)07:29
• Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (1804-1857):
• 2Ya zdes', Inezil'ya (I Am Here, Inezilla) (arr. D. Kramer)02:55
• Franz Schubert (1797-1828):
• 3Ellen's Gesang III (Ave Maria!), Op. 56, No. 6, D. 839, "Hymne an die Jungfrau" (arr. D. Kramer)05:55
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791):
• 4Exsultate jubilate, K. 165: Allelujah (arr. D. Kramer)03:24
• 5Serenade No. 13 in G Major, K. 525, "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" (arr. D. Kramer)03:09
• George Frideric Handel (1685-1759):
• 6Rinaldo, HWV 7: Rinaldo, HWV 7, Act II: Lascia ch'io pianga (arr. D. Kramer)08:09
• 7Soirees d'automne a l'Infrascata: Me voglio fa'na casa (arr. D. Kramer)02:41
• Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904):
• 8Zigeunermelodien, Op. 55, B. 104: No. 4. Songs My Mother Taught Me (arr. D. Kramer)06:21
• Emmerich Kálmán (1882-1953):
• 9Das Veilchen vom Montmartre, Act I: Ich sing mein Lied im Regen und Schnee (arr. D. Kramer)05:58
• Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849):
• 1012 Etudes, Op. 10: 12 Etudes, Op. 10: No. 3 in E Major, Op. 10, No. 3 (arr. D. Kramer)08:45
• Bart Howard (1915-2004):
• 11Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words) (arr. D. Kramer)03:47
• George Gershwin (1898-1937):
• 12Porgy and Bess, Act I: Summertime (arr. D. Kramer)03:51
• Traditional:
• 13Hava nagila: Hava nagila (arr. D. Kramer)04:10
• 14About the Rock: About the Rock (arr. D. Kramer)04:05
• Denes Buday (1890-1963):
• 15Blumen aus Nizza: Ein Blumenstrauss aus Nizza (arr. D. Kramer)03:10
• Anonymous:
• 16Spring Is Coming: Spring Is Coming (arr. D. Kramer)04:05
• Total Runtime01:17:54

Info for Opera, Jazz & Blues

The program "Opera. Jazz. Blues" includes rousing and lyric jazz improvisations, unexpected arrangements and fantasias on the pieces of classical, jazz and popular music composers. The genre of crossover is a synthesis of different music genres and styles, a fashionable but often risky device. It is only justified when top class musicians possessing a high taste and artistic convincingness venture to experiment in the area. This album is exactly the case. The musicians came up with an idea of carrying out a jazz/classical experiment a few years ago, but it had to wait to be realized. It took more than a year to select the repertoire, discuss details and make arrangement of Mozart's Alleluia, Glinka's Inesilia that doesn't sound like anything of itself, and the jazz hit Fly Me to the Moon that may seem so unwonted for Hibla Gerzmava. Combining classical depth and aesthetics with jazz harmonies and rhythms, an operatic voice with a swinging trio is not an easy task to accomplish, but Hibla Gerzmava and Trio of Daniel Kramer come through with flying colors.

Hibla Gerzmava, soprano
Trio of Daniel Kramer

Hibla Gerzmava
graduated from the Vocal Department of the Moscow Conservatory in 1994, and finished her postgraduate course there in 1996. Since 1995 she has been the soloist of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre in Moscow.

She has also performed at the stages of the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Teatro Comunale di Firenze in Florence, the Sofia Opera and at the Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo.

The repertoire Hibla sings at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre includes such parts as Adina (L’elisir d’amore by Donizetti), Mimi (La bohème by Puccini), Violetta (La traviata by Verdi), Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti), Antonia/Olympia/Giulietta (Les contes d’Hoffmann by Offenbach).

In 2010, her performance of Lucia in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor brought her the highest Russian theatrical award — the Golden Mask, as well as Casta Diva Critics Award and the Moscow Government Award for achievement and contribution to the world of arts and culture.

Hibla Gerzmava has appeared with recitals in Sweden, France, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Greece, the USA, Japan and Turkey. In 2002 and 2003, she took part in the Ludwigsburg Festival in Germany where she sang Eva in Die Schöpfung (The Creation) by Haydn and the Angel in the Rappresentatione di anima e di corpo by Emilio de Cavalieri.

Hibla Gerzmava is often invited to take part in oratorio concerts. She has sung soprano parts in Mozart’s Requiem, Great Mass in C minor, Coronation Mass, Vesperae solennes de confessore, in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Verdi’s Requiem.

In March 2008, Hibla Gerzmava made her Covent Garden debut as Tatiana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and appeared there again in 2009 as Mimi in Puccini’s La bohème, coming back to the Royal Opera House in January 2012 as Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. She sung the part of Mimi for her debuts at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich and at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma in Rome in May-June 2011.

In September-October 2010, Hibla made her Metropolitan Opera debut in the parts of Stella and Antonia in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann, and in November-December 2011 she went back there to sing Mimi in Franco Zeffirelli’s production of La bohème.

She made her triumphal debut on the stage of Palais Garnier at the Opéra National de Paris as Vitellia in Willy Decker’s production of Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito in September-October 2011. She also sung at the BBC Proms Opening Night in July 2011 in Janáček’s Glagolithic Mass conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek and took part in the Mariinsky Theatre’s tour to Japan in February 2011, performing the part of Liù in Puccini’s Turandot at the NHK Hall in Tokyo.

In 2013, Hibla Gerzmava will further appear in Simon Boccanegra at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in Turandot at Metropolitan Opera and in La Clemenza di Tito at the Wiener Staatsoper.

Hibla Gerzmava took part in the the Closing Ceremony of the 22nd Winter Olympics that took place at the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi. She has sung the Olympic Valse song that was composed by the Russian composer Igor Krutoi and performed alongside the Children’s Chorus of Russia, conducted by Valery Gergiev.

This album contains no booklet.